Modi’s UAE visit a wake-up call for Pakistan: Daily

Islamabad: A leading Pakistan daily said on Thursday that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UAE should be a wake-up call to Pakistan as “India is on the move in the region”.

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An editorial published in the Dawn said that Modi’s visit to the United Arab Emirates, and the joint statement issued afterwards “should be nothing less than a wake-up call for Pakistan.”

“Both countries have agreed to enhance their economic cooperation and set specific targets, including bringing UAE investment into Indian infrastructure up to $75 billion and raising their bilateral trade by 60 percent in five years,” it said.

The message also to an extent “condemn efforts, including by states, to use religion to justify, support and sponsor terrorism against other countries,” expounding upon this responsibility with a precision that almost betrays a sense of relish with which the words were written.

“The language is being widely interpreted to be pointed towards Pakistan,” said the daily. The editorial said that by itself, the growing closeness between India and the UAE would be cause for more than just alarm.

“But given the diplomatic moves under way in the region it highlights how the conduct of foreign policy is changing in profound ways.” It further added: “…India is on the move in the region, keeping countries as diverse as the UAE, Iran, China and the United States on board as it spins a web of connectivity from the Middle East to Southeast Asia.”

According to the daily, this should be enough to wake Pakistan’s foreign policy community up to the fact that their game has changed fundamentally.

“Lingering territorial disputes are no longer the driving force behind foreign policy. Instead the foreign interests of states are now, more than ever before, viewed through an economic lens. States can be rivals in one sphere and partner in another,” the editorial said.

The daily pointed out, “The game is no longer about pushing a single-agenda item, but the meticulous placement of pieces on an increasingly complex and interconnected chessboard. For Pakistan, remaining wedded to an old foreign policy template developed in the early Cold War years–which saw friends and masters in its search for a big brother who would help solve problems in return for a geopolitical alliance–is no longer a viable option.”

The editorial called for maturity in Pakistan’s foreign policy saying that, “as a thaw with Iran opens up opportunities to the west, and the possibility of building an economic partnership with India to the east–however remote it might seem at the moment–remains a viable foreign policy goal. It’s time to emerge from the old world, and recognise the changes happening in our region before it’s too late.”

A union flag is flown at half mast in Westminster after an attack on London Bridge and Borough Market left 7 people dead and dozens injured in London, Britain, June 4, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Coombs

A British court has convicted a mother of forcing her daughter to marry a relative almost twice her age in Pakistan, in a first successful prosecution of its type in England.

A jury at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday convicted the mother of four of duping her then 17-year-old daughter into travelling to Pakistan on the pretext of a family holiday in 2016 and forcing her to marry there, the BBC reported.

The mother was found guilty of two counts of forced marriage and was scheduled to be sentenced.

The court heard the girl had been entered into a “marriage contract” with the man years before in Pakistan and became pregnant at 13. The victim had an abortion on returning to the UK, with her doctor reporting his concerns to social services.

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Prosecutors said the girl’s mother told them that her daughter and the man were just “two teenagers who had sneakily had sex” after she was referred, the BBC said.

The girl was tricked into travelling to Pakistan again in September 2016 and was forced by her mother to sign marriage papers.

When the daughter protested against the marriage, her mother threatened to burn her passport and assaulted her.

The mother was also convicted of perjury after she lied about the incident in the High Court.